Holding On To You
by fipip
Summary: Ever since he was six, Soul has been drawn to Maka in ways even he can't understand. How long will it take for him to realize that what he feels is mutual? - a series of episodes that took place in Soul's life, from childhood, to adulthood. This was actually a gift fic for the a gift exchange, but I'm proud so here it is.


Soul is six and clinging to his mother's leg like his life depends on it. The woman looks down, chuckles at her kid's antics and gently pries him off. She knows what he's nervous about, she knows why he's trying so hard to make it impossible for her to leave his side: school. It's Soul's first day of school and the boy is terrified.

"Don't leave me here mama, please." The kid begs, looking up at his mom with what he hopes is a convincing puppy dog face.

"Soul," the woman sighs, kneeling down so their heights match, "you have to go. It's school, it's not that bad, I bet that by the end of the day, your opinion will have changed. Look at all of those kids, look at how happy they are." She points at a group of running kids and Soul cringes, turning away from the playground. His mom sighs once more, stands up and leads him to the school gates. But before the screaming begins again, before Soul has a chance to open his mouth and beg his mom not to leave him there, a girl stops in front of them, hair up in pigtails and a big smile on her face.

"Hi! I'm Maka." She says, smile bright and contagious. "Is it your first day?"

Soul is frightened, he doesn't know many kids his age, but his mom is smiling softly at the girl and so he nods, briefly, to which she beams, saying that "it's my first day too! Do you want to be friends?"

Once again, Soul is baffled by her behavior, and briefly wonders if all kids are like this or if it's just this one girl, this overly nice and cheery girl that is willing to be friends with him. His mom nudges him once, looking down as if to say that this is his chance, this is his ticket to make some friends, so he quietly says. "Okay, I'm Soul."

Maka looks confused for a second, before her expression becomes an amused one. "Soul? Your name's cool, I like it."

Soul smiles, even if it is a small one, but he smiles at the girl in front of him, and she smiles back at him, before reaching out to take his hand. He hesitates, but his mother let's go of his hand, whispers "have fun", and Soul takes Maka's hand and lets her lead him inside the school.

She's talkative, he notices quickly, and very friendly, because she seems to already know most of the kids in the playground, but he doesn't judge, because she seems nice and is his very first friend in a school full of unknown faces. "You don't talk much, do you?" She asks at one point and Soul only nods, and she shrugs and keeps walking, with him in toll.

He takes some time to look at her: she's taller than him, but thinner, and her hair is blonde, but not like his mom's, a little darker. Each time she glances at him and smiles, Soul can't help but to be amazed at how green and big and round her eyes are. And she glances at him a lot. _It's my weird looks_ , he thinks.

And then he looks at where they're heading and trips on his own feet because there's a _blue haired boy_ doing some sort of weird dance by the door. Maka lets go of his hand and runs towards him, slapping him in the arm, hard, and telling him that he's making a fool of himself and that she has someone she wants him to meet. Soul hurries to their side, and instantly regrets it when he is on the receiving end of a very loud shout from the blue haired boy. "My name is Black Star, who are you?"

Soul has half a mind to think about how weird it is that he is named Black Star before he remembers his own name and says. "I'm Soul."

"Soul? What the hell kinda name is that?" He demands, and Maka slaps him again, complaining about language and how he has absolutely no manners.

Soul stands by them, and when the bell rings, Maka waves him over and tells him to sit behind her, and so he does, and when he goes home that night, he smiles as he tells his mom about his new friends.

Soul is nine when Black Star decides that girls are gross. "Dude, just think with me! They're so weird, like, did you see that drawing in our book? Did you see what they have _down there_?" He asks him, voice low, glancing around to make sure no one heard them. "I say we stop talking to girls."

"What about Maka?" He asks, because he rarely talks with anyone, much less girls, and Maka is his friend.

"Forget Maka, she's tough, she'll manage." Black Star shrugs, and starts yelling something as he runs towards the football field, Soul slowly trailing behind him. Maka is playing football with the boys, and Soul is embarrassed to admit that she frightens him sometimes, being as competitive as she is. When he reaches the field, he knows it's too late, because Black Star is yelling, and Maka is yelling, and they're both as red as tomatoes, as words fly back and forth. Soul approaches them and no one notices him, as they're too engaged in the fight, and as he reaches them, he tells them to stop. They ignore him.

"How dare you come here and tell me I can't play football?" Maka is yelling, and Soul feels like slapping Black Star for being so thick.

"Because you're a girl! And girls are gross and can't play football!" He yells back and Soul can't help but disagree, Maka would easily beat any of the guys in their class, except maybe if she was running against Black Star, in a game. Maybe that's why she looks so offended, he thinks, she has good reason to.

"You're gross and no one stops you from playing." She replies, and Soul can see that behind all of the bravado, she's starting to break. He knows she and Black Star were friends even before primary school, and it can't be easy to have a friend fighting against you.

"You're a girl, your place isn't here." He says, voice lower and eyes slitted, and he pushes her. Soul knows she's strong and that she could have withstood the push, but she is caught by surprise and falls on her rear, and when tears well up in her eyes, Soul doesn't think. She was his first friend after all. He swings at Black Star and his fist collides with his jaw, making the boy stumble backwards. Soul knows he wouldn't have stumbled if he had been expecting a punch, Soul knows that his friend is a lot stronger than him, but he still jumps at him, sending them both towards the ground, and manages to punch him once more before Black Star regains control and strikes back.

It doesn't take much time but when the teacher reaches them and manages to separate them, Black Star has a split lip and Soul has an eye swelled shut, and a possibly dislocated jaw. They get sent to the Principal's office, after a quick inspection from the school nurse that lets them know that none of the wounds are terrible and that they will heal on their own, and after a lengthy lecture, that none of the boys paid much attention to, they're let out.

Soul is out the door in a second, hoping he can avoid the confrontation until at least the next day, but a hand on his shoulder stops him in his tracks. He turns around to see Black Star, standing straight and taller than him, even if just a bit. "Soul." He says, gravely, but there's a small smile on his lips. "I didn't know you could throw a punch."

"I wasn't thinking." He answers immediately. Black Star is his friend, and he doesn't have many friendships to begin with, he doesn't need to lose any of them.

"It's cool, you're still my bro." He says, clapping Soul's shoulder with a bit more strength than usual. "But don't do it again, or I'll really hit you." He continues, saying it quietly enough that only Soul can hear, before running out the door. Soul remembers catching a glance of his face when the nurse was treating him, and so he can't help but wonder how he would look if Black Star had _really_ hit him.

He takes his time, he doesn't have to be anywhere but home right now, and he isn't looking forward to the look on his mother's face when he shows up all bruised and beaten. He sits in a bench near the door, gazing out the window and trying hard to forget how terrible it had felt to see Maka cry. It takes him a few seconds to realize that he's not alone, and he jumps when a hand brushes his own.

"Sorry." Maka says, sheepish, "I didn't mean to scare you." She is looking at him, pity in her eyes, and Soul can't take it, so he looks away, shrugging and murmuring that it's okay. "Thank you." She says, after silence settles between them, "you didn't have to."

"He was being an idiot." He replies, shrugging again and brushing it off, like nothing big happened. And then she touches his cheek and he jumps again, away from her, looking horrified.

"I'm sorry!" She hurries to say, moving away from him, as well, startled by his reaction. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Soul chastises himself for being so dumb, plopping down beside her once again, and this time he doesn't move away when his hand brushes hers. "No, it's okay. You can see it, if you want." He offers, and she smiles thinly before gently pressing her fingers to the swell in his eye. He winces a little when she pushes too hard, and she hurries to apologize, but he laughs and brushes her hair away from her face, and she laughs as well as she lets her hand fall to her side, on top of his, and they stay like that for a while, in silence, reveling in each other's company. The peace is shattered when a horn blares from outside the school and Maka sighs.

"I bet that's my dad. Thank you once again, Soul." She says, standing up and smiling at him, sweetly, softly. She's almost out the door when Soul stands up as well. She looks back, curious.

"I don't think you're gross."

Soul is twelve and staring at his ceiling, unable to sleep because he knows he's going to spend the whole summer away from home and away from his friends, because his parents decided that this year, they would all go to Europe for the summer. "It'll be good, you'll be more cultured when you get back", his mom had said, but Soul didn't care to spend so much time surrounded by mostly strangers.

His window is open, because his dad always tells him to close it and he likes to think he's rebellious, so he startles when someone falls through the window, falling face first on his bedroom floor. He's about to shout when he sees the pigtails and sighs instead. "Maka?"

She's standing up, red faced and looking sheepish, and Soul wonders if she's embarrassed, or if it's something else. "Hey." She says, quietly, and looks like she's struggling with whatever it is that she has to say. "I didn't mean to…" She trails off, but looks at the window and that's enough for him to know what she means.

"It's okay." He says, smiling softly as he scoots back, leaning against the wall. He waits for her to speak, but when she doesn't say anything, he pats a spot near him, on the bed. "You can sit." She does, still quiet, still avoiding his eyes, and Soul wrecks his mind to find a plausible reason for her behavior. He frowns when he doesn't find any and looks at her, deciding that the best thing to do is wait for when she's ready. But it's Soul who isn't ready when she blurts something, too fast for him to understand. "What?"

And then she throws her arms around his neck, and although Soul startles, he's quick to hug her back, and almost misses it as she mumbles against his chest that "I don't want you to go."

He doesn't want to go either, but he can't tell her that, she's upset enough as it is. "I'll be back before you notice it." He tries, but he sounds like he's lying, even to himself, and he knows she won't be comforted by that. "Everyone else is staying, you'll have fun." He continues, but this time, his voice leaks something akin to jealousy and he tries to bury it as best as he can.

"But I'll miss you." She sniffs, because she isn't crying, but her eyes are watery, and Soul knows that if she starts crying, he'll be ruined. She moves away from him, and her smile is so sad that it comes across his mind that maybe he'll be the one who's crying by the end of the night.

"I'll miss you too." He whispers, because it feels too personal, it's one of the things he won't admit even to himself, and he feels vulnerable. "But you have Black*Star, and Kilik, and Kid…"

Maka hugs him again and chuckles softly. "They'd never let me live it down if I told them the things I tell you." She says, and then she doesn't sound amused anymore. "You're my best friend."

Because Soul knows he's leaving tomorrow, and because he feels like tonight he can dare to hope, he kisses the top her head. "I'm still going to be your best friend when I come back. I can't imagine my life without you." He says, but she isn't hugging him anymore and he thinks that he may have ruined whatever it was between them. He's about to say something about it, something to make it look less like she means the world to him, but before he can, her hand is caressing his cheek and he thinks that maybe once in his life he did the right thing.

"You promise?" She says, quietly, her eyes never leaving his. He raises an eyebrow, asking her to elaborate. "You promise we'll still be the same when you get back?"

He's nodding before he knows it, "yes, Maka, it'll all be the same."

And then she leans forward just a bit, her lips brushing his, and they both jump back, startled, electrified. He wants to say something but she's up and stepping towards the window, saying that "it's late and you should sleep" and giving him no opportunity to stop her. Because when Soul manages to untangle himself from his sheets and make it to the window, she's already halfway down the street, and she isn't looking back.

The next morning, he boards the plane knowing that when he gets back, nothing will be the same.

Soul is fifteen and about to sit on his desk to do his homework when his blue haired best friend busts in through the door, looking like he had ran a mile. Soul groans, staring at the door, sighing in relief when he sees that it's still intact, before throwing an inquisitive glance at him. After all, it had been less than an hour since they'd been together at school, and Soul fails to see what could be so important that the boy looked like he might explode.

"You won't believe it!" Black*Star screams, because the boy only has two volumes, and between loud, and deafening, he mostly always chooses the latter. "Pigtails has a boyfriend."

Soul's face blanks, and in the few seconds it takes for him to process the statement, he sees Black*Star staring at him, expectantly. He decides he must have misunderstood. "What?"

His friend huffs, moving closer. "Maka. She has a boyfriend."

"Who?" It surprises both boys how sour Soul's voice is. It isn't that surprising, he tries to reason with his emotions, after the flop that had been their short-lived relationship, three years before, him and her had fallen apart and drifted away from each other, to the point that even though they had common friends, they rarely bothered to even acknowledge the other if they saw each other.

"Hiro." Black*Star says, a malicious glint on his eye because he hates the blond, unlike everyone else, and he feels like now, Soul will share his hatred for him.

"Hiro?" He echoes, stunned, because if he remembers well, the boy is way too vain and conceited to appeal to someone like Maka. Then again, he thinks, that was how she thought before, maybe now she is into overly flamboyant guys.

"I know, right?" Black*Star screams, and Soul wonders if being Black*Star's friend will eventually lead to deafness, "I thought she was your girl."

Soul freezes, wide-eyed and tongue tied as he stutters that "no, we don't have anything, we barely talk."

His friend laughs, in his face, and Soul has half a mind to feel offended, before he speaks again. "That's because you're dumb, and she's dumber. You really don't see it?"

He's confused, because Black*Star isn't making any sense, and although he had kept some things for himself, he had told the boy mostly everything about he and Maka's relationship, and afterwards, about their fallout. But Black*Star merely shakes his head, smiling, as if it's a joke that Soul will never understand. And then he suggests that they spray paint Hiro's locker, for messing with Maka, but Soul stops him and tells him that Maka is big enough and can take care of herself just fine.

Black*Star does it anyway, cackling as the blond boy reads the very vulgar insult sprayed on his locker, but it's Soul who must have looked more pleased, because he's on the receiving end of many angry stares from Maka throughout the year.

It doesn't help that Black*Star doesn't stop, claiming that he ought to protect Maka, but Soul knows that he had just been looking for an excuse, and now he could take it all out on the blond boy. And Maka fails to see, time and time again, that although Soul has become way more hostile to anything involving her boyfriend, he never actively confronted the boy about it. Even when Hiro throws his smug stares as he kisses Maka, and Soul feels like punching him until he can no longer feel his knuckles. But Maka keeps blaming him, and by the end of the year, she doesn't even look at him, going out of her way to avoid him. It hurts but Soul is used to being hurt and so he thinks nothing of it.

Her coldness towards him doesn't stop him though, not when he finds out that Hiro had another girlfriend, in another school, and the fuel for his rage isn't what he feels for Maka, but rather what he knows she's feeling, because he knows how she feels about cheating, and how she must feel being just one of many Hiro pursued. So when he catches him, Soul beats the blond boy up, badly, and he doesn't stop until he can't feel his knuckles. He's suspended, Maka doesn't do anything but stare at him in disbelief, and he wishes he could tell her that's he's sorry, somehow, but he can't and he isn't, and so he drags his feet as he leaves the school, followed by whispers and people who don't understand.

He's lying on his bed when his phone rings, his brother's name showing up on the screen and he promptly ignores it. It only takes a few moments for a text to arrive instead. _Are you ok? Mom told me what happened._ He ignores that one, glancing at the others. Black*Star is telling him about how awesome he was, Tsubaki is assuring him that while Maka didn't approve of his behavior, she felt a little better afterwards (blessed be the girl, she was one of Black*Star's friends and she regularly told him about how Maka was doing, even though he had never asked), and finally his dad, telling him that he's ashamed and that it better not happen again. Soul scoffs at the last one, and throws his phone, tired but restless.

"You're going to end up with a cracked screen." Someone says and he jumps, falling of the bed, in panic, until he sees who is it that decided to visit him. He grunts, and gets up, only to fall on the bed again and he hears her sigh. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"You're the one who came." He shrugs, turning away from her because he doesn't want to see her face when she tells him he did wrong.

She sighs, deeply, again, and seems to take a deep breath before saying "you didn't have to do that."

"I know." He replies, instantly, because he really didn't. They were little more than strangers.

"But thank you." She continues, and he can hear the smile on her voice. He warms up inside, surprised because it feels so good to have her not be mad at him. To feel like maybe there's a chance for them. He grunts, waving her off, pretending like she isn't messing up his heartbeat.

She sighs again and he hears her step away, and he wants to scream at her to stay but he knows he can't and she wouldn't. He rolls on his bed to face her, nonetheless, and they stare at each other for a while. She's changed, so much, and he hasn't had time to observe her, but he's doing it now, and she's more beautiful than she's ever been, the moonlight shining on her face, and she leans on the window sill. They're staring, and there's silence all around but it isn't uncomfortable, and Soul hasn't felt this calm in a long time.

The spell is broken when a cat hisses and she looks away, out the window, at the street below, whispering her goodbye before she climbs out.

Soul doesn't move, he doesn't want to, and he end up falling asleep, facing the window, dreaming of green eyes and bright smiles.

Soul is eighteen and packing, most of his things already tucked away, when the door to his bedroom opens and someone enters, feet forcefully hitting the ground. He doesn't even look behind him. "Yo, Black*Star, don't touch anything, I'm almost done."

He expects his best friend to shout something, or to actually have the audacity to unbox some of his things, but he doesn't expect to hear her voice. "You're leaving?"

He whips around so fast that he knocks his case off the bed, contents spilling on the ground and he couldn't care less. "Maka?" He sees her, but he can't believe she's here, because they haven't seen each other since school ended and they haven't talked to each in much longer than that.

"You're leaving?" She repeats, her voice cracking near the end and he can see in her face that she didn't want her weakness to show. She's standing there, shaking, hands balled in a fist and Soul can see that her eyes are watery. Not with sadness, he thinks, Maka doesn't cry when she's sad, but rather with rage.

"Maka." He whispers her name, knowing why she's here and wanting to clear up the misunderstanding as quickly as possible. "Yes, I'm moving out. I got myself a nice apartment downtown and since me and my parents aren't on the best of terms, I'm moving there."

He sees it in the way she seems to relax and looks at him, appalled, that his suspicions are right and that someone told her he was leaving for good. "What?"

He sighs. "Who told you I was leaving? Black*Star?"

"Tsubaki." She answers, now seeming to have shrinked, since the fire in her had burnt out.

"Same thing." He scoffs, thinking back to how those two never left each other's side nowadays. "She lied, I'm not leaving. I'm just moving." She doesn't know what to say, so she plays with the hem of her skirt, and Soul doesn't know either, but he feels he should say something because the air between them is getting thicker. He clears his throat but she beats him to the punch.

"Why did you date Jackie?" She blurts out and Soul chokes on his own saliva, making a fool out of himself.

"I didn't." He answers, remembering the brunette and her plead: _please,_ _Soul, I know you like Maka and that's why I'm asking you, could you pretend that we're dating?_

"You can't fool me." Maka says, and her voice is slightly sharper. "I saw you, holding hands and having lunch together all the time."

"Do you know who Jackie is with now?" He asks and she shakes her head so he continues. "Kim. And that's thanks to me because our " _dating_ "" he makes sure to air-quote the word, "was what made her jealous enough to admit that she liked Jackie."

"Oh." Maka says, eyes flying to the ground again. "I thought you liked her."

He laughs humorlessly, and she looks up, throwing him a questioning glance. "You really are that oblivious." He sighs, knowing she's going to feel offended, but he needs her to understand.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asks, voice high and he's proud to know her so well.

"I like you." He blurts out, before he loses his courage. He isn't looking at her and he knows that if he doesn't speak now, he never will so he pushes. "I have for a long time now."

He feels her hand on his cheek, and he doesn't know when she got this close but he's not complaining. She forces him to look at her and she's smiling, even if just a little. "You have?"

"Everyone around us noticed it." He mumbles, "I can't believe you haven't."

"I guess I forget to look around me sometimes." She says, sounding amused.

"Sometimes." He echoes, scoffing, and it feels so natural to return to their bickering that he feels himself relaxing. She hits his shoulder, weakly, and chuckles, and he revels in the sound of her laughter, because it's so clear and pure, and when did she get so tiny?

She seems to have noticed the same thing because she's looking up at him, a small pout on her lips as she stands on her tiptoes and still only reaches his nose. "You've grown." She says, sounding both amazed and disappointed. He can't help but chuckle.

"That's what my Gran says whenever I visit her." He replies, grinning and she hits him again and his heart flutters a little. They stay like that for a while, close, but not touching, and he wonders if this time it'll last or if she's just going to run off again.

"I'm sorry." She whispers, after some time, and she's the one who's avoiding his eyes now. "I'm sorry I ran."

He shrugs, but she isn't looking so he mumbles "it's okay."

"It's not." It's her immediate response and when she looks at him, he sees nothing but regret in her eyes. "I shouldn't have, but it was all so _overwhelming_." She emphasizes the word, and Soul understands.

"I know." He replies, in what he hopes is a soothing voice. He felt overwhelmed too, by how deep his feelings for her ran, by his fear of messing things up.

"I love you, Soul." She whispers, and she's looking at him and he thinks he may melt. "I lied and told myself I didn't for too long. I'm not my parents' mistakes." She continues and Soul realizes that she's saying it more to herself than him, but he lets her. "Do you forgive me?"

He nods, and hugs her to his chest and he thinks he may have broken some kind of spell because suddenly she's crying, and clinging to him like she's afraid he'll leave if she lets go and he clings to her because he feels the same. He realizes they've both been denying their feelings for the other out of fear, but he decides that she's worth the risk. "I love you." He whispers it against her hair, a weight lifting off his chest. He says it again, and again, letting the words roll of his tongue because he's spent so long burying them.

He doesn't know how long they stay there, holding onto each other, but when they let go, he thinks it wasn't enough. Her eyes are red and swollen and his shirt is soaked but they're smiling despite themselves and then she's standing on her tiptoes, reaching for his neck and he's leaning down towards her and when they kiss, he thinks that he's been missing out on too much.

Soul is twenty one and awakes to the smell of pancakes and a very out of tune singing. He smiles despite himself, knowing probably looks like a fool in love but that's what he is. He leaves the bed, throwing on a pair of sweatpants he finds lying on the ground and as he walks to the kitchen, he wonders how his life got to where it is now.

He doesn't remember the exact moment Maka had moved to his apartment. He liked to think that they had been moments. While in the beginning, she only ever came when they felt like having a lazy afternoon watching movies, it had quickly evolved to movie nights, which led to her, spending the night more often than not because it was dark and dangerous and she should just stay, it would be easier.

He remembers the night, a stormy one, when Maka called for him from his bedroom, since he always insisted in taking the couch when she stayed over, and begged him to sleep next to her, because she'd feel better. Little did he know that Maka was not afraid of the storm, but rather that she knew he was afraid and too proud to ask for her support. But all that it took was one night, and then Soul never slept on the couch again.

From then on, the clothes on his wardrobe were no longer only his, there was a bookshelf, full of her books, leaning against his living room wall, and little by little, she took over his apartment, and his life.

If he had to pinpoint the exact moment she'd moved, he'd say it was the night when she knocked on his door, suitcase in hand and eyes red and watery, telling him that his dad had crossed the line and she couldn't bear living in his house anymore. He listened to her as she told him all about what he'd out her through, and he comforted her as best as he could, because although Soul was terrible with words, he made up for it with actions, and he made sure she knew she was loved.

But those times were long gone, he thinks, and as he watches her, clad in one of his t-shirts, singing in the kitchen to a famous pop song, he smiles, and watches her, trying to burn the image of her, happy and radiant, onto his brain, so he can never forget her. He steps towards her, quietly, hugging her from behind as she jumps, almost dropping the pan. She whines as he nuzzles her neck and chuckles. "Have I told you you're a terrible singer?" He asks, his voice hoarse as she giggles.

"You have, but you're stuck with me, so get used to it." She replies, always sharp, as she plants a kiss on his cheek and sticks his tongue out at him.

"I'm fine with it," he mumbles, squeezing her only enough for her to try to break out of his embrace. "More than fine, actually." He completes, resting his chin on her shoulder, arms circling her waist.

She chuckles and seems to pause, waiting on something, but Soul is too comfortable to notice. "Soul?" She calls out, trying to look at him from the corner of her eye. He grunts in response, "I can't make our breakfast with you leaning on me like that." She admonishes, but she sounds amused.

"Really?" He asks, with no intention to move.

"Really, Soul," she chuckles, pushing him off of her. "Let me finish, I'll let you lean on me all you want when I'm done." Maka says, more as a way to get him to move, but as he throws her a mischievous grin, she re-thinks her words. It's a lost cause, she knows, and Soul is harmless in his meanest state, so she lets him slide across the kitchen to sit on one of their stools.

It's all so homely, Soul thinks, so domestic, that he can't believe they'd spent a good part of their lives at odds with each other. He knows he loves her, and looking back, he doesn't know when he became aware of that, but he knows his love for her has been there for a long time. He doesn't think she's perfect, far from it, but he's learned to love and understand her flaws, along with her virtues. Above all, Soul tries his hardest to understand her.

"Breakfast's served." She announces, sitting across from him and putting down a plate of pancakes. "Lunch and dinner are on you." She says, winking at him, as she grabs a pancake.

Soul is happily munching on one already, but he groans as he finishes eating it, before voicing his complaints. "That's two meals on me, and one on you. Not fair."

She shrugs, looking delighted, "I woke up early." She reasons.

"You always wake up early." He whines, but he knows he's fighting a lost cause because he'll happily cook for her anytime she wants him to. "Nerd." He adds, grinning, because he knows it'll rile her up and as she shrieks and tries to hit him with a book, he chuckles.

"Am not!" She replies, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks in that adorable way that means she's trying to make him feel bad.

He smiles as he gets up, putting his arms around her and leaning down to kiss her nose, upside down. "You're my nerd though." He says, and he can see the conflict going in her head, between chastising him and surrendering to his charm, and although Soul doesn't think he's particularly charming, she opts to find him endearing, and tugs him lower so they kiss.

Later, as Maka, despite saying that he was to prepare dinner on his own, helps him cook dinner, he stares at her and can't help but be enthralled by her beauty, because Maka is beautiful, on the inside and on the outside, and he doesn't think he's deserving of her, but she says he is, so he believes her. She catches him staring and arches an eyebrow.

"What?" She asks, quickly dusting her face, clearly thinking there was something there.

"Nothing." He replies, but he moves closer and kisses her again, hoping to convey what he really feels for her in the kiss.

When they move away from each other she's pink in her cheeks and breathless. "What was that for?" She demands, because a kiss like that carried too much passion to be just an ordinary one.

He shrugs, turning to the stove and moving the contents on the pot. "Because I've lived without you and it sucked. I don't want to live without you ever again."

And she tries to hide the gigantic smile on her face, and he pretends that he didn't notice her reaction or how warm it made his insides, and they turn to the task at hand, making dinner, because they both know that the other isn't going anywhere.


End file.
